Submachine gun threat closes high school in Washington state

SEATTLE (Reuters) - A public high school in suburban Seattle was closed on Thursday after someone posted an anonymous online threat to kill students with a submachine gun, authorities said.

King County sheriff's and police officers in Sammamish, east of Seattle in Washington state, were alerted to the threat late on Wednesday, Sammamish police spokeswoman Sergeant Jessica Sullivan said.

The threat said someone would bring a submachine gun to Skyline High School and shoot students in the school's common area, she said.

A regional television network said the message accused people at the school of using their wealth and social status "to act superior to others."

"The biggest offender of that would definitely be the jocks. I am going to start killing them first because they deserve it the most," it said, according to the Northwest Cable News.

The shooter would only stop after being killed by police or running out of loaded magazines, Sullivan said.

Police received nearly 100 emergency calls from people who had seen the threat, which included a photo of a German Erma submachine gun. The threat targeted "snotty classmates" and referred to "pretentious" students, she said.

Issaquah School District officials said they closed the school of 2,000 students "out of an abundance of caution" and warned students and staff not to come to campus.

A school spokesman did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

The threat came amid heightened sensitivity in the United States over gun violence following a mass shooting at a Colorado movie theater in July that killed 12 people and wounded 58 others.

It also comes days after bomb threats were sent to several large U.S. universities, prompting evacuations though no bombs were found.